Chapter Seven

          "Details. Now."

          Rachel jolted, looking up from the book she was reading as Madison burst through her bedroom door and leaped onto her king-sized bed. "Hi, Bug. How'd you get in?"

          Madison groaned in annoyance and rolled her eyes. "Back door was open. Tell me!" She snatched up the mystery novel Rachel still held open, dog-eared the page and tossed it onto the nightstand. Rachel brought her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them and blushed.

          "I can't."

          "You can't? Why not?"

          "Because..." her face reddened more as she shifted uncomfortably. "It's really personal, intimate, private information."

          Madison comically rolled her eyes again. "I'm not asking for a detailed description or a play-by-play here, Boo."

          Rachel frowned. "What's a play-by-play?"

          "It's a-nothing. So?"

          Rachel shrugged. "So, what are you asking for?"

          "Feelings, emotions," she replied, exaggerating her facial expressions and pressing her joined hands to her heart for emphasis. "You're the first one to go all the way. I just want to know. How did it feel?"

          "It felt..." Rachel smiled and flexed her bare toes. "Wonderful."

          Madison squealed, as teenage girls often do, and she grabbed Rachel's hands, giving them a quick squeeze. "Happy birthday, Chris Kirkpatrick!" Madison laughed again when Rachel covered her beet red face. "Do you feel different?" Rachel nodded. "You look different."

          Rachel's eyes went wide and her smile disappeared. "I do? Noticeably?"

          Madison shrugged. "You have that disgustingly happy look." Rachel laughed softly and shyly. "So...now what?"

          "What do you mean?"

          "I don't know. I said you were the first. You're in uncharted territory now. Its like, you've had sex with him, now what?"

          "Why don't you just post it on the six o'clock news, Bug? I don't think they heard you down the street," Rachel quipped at Madison's careless tone.

          She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

          "Anyway...I guess the next thing is that he kinda sorta maybe asked me if I would kinda sorta maybe go on tour with him this summer."

          Madison's jaw dropped. "You lucky bitch! That's so cool! When do you leave?"

          Rachel inhaled. "Um..."

          "You are going, aren't you?"

          "I want to. There's just one teensy weensy little problem." She held up her thumb and forefinger, barely touching.

          "What? The tour bus isn't made out of fourteen karat gold?"

          Rachel laughed mockingly. "No. If I went I'd have to tell my parents."

Madison shrugged nonchalantly. "So?"

Rachel twisted her mouth. "So...they don't really know that I'm still seeing Chris."

Madison kept her eyes on Rachel's as her chin lowered. "How can they not know? Where do you tell them you're going when he comes into town?"

"The mall, the library...your house," she muttered under her breath.

Madison frowned. "Because it's you and I love you, I'm going to forget that. Now...why don't they know about you and Lucky?" She asked.

"What do you mean ‘why'? You know they don't approve."

"So what? Have you forgotten what incredibly awesome event is going to happen in seven months?"

"Graduation?"

Madison looked at the ceiling. "The other incredibly awesome event."

"My birthday?"

"Yes!" Madison exclaimed making Rachel jump back. "You're eighteenth birthday, Boo! After that day, you're parents can't tell you what to do anymore. Legally, you are an adult and completely capable of making your own decisions. And it's only for the summer. If you are going to tell them, just assure them that at the end of the summer you'll still be going off to Berkley with me. Right?" Madison smiled eagerly at Rachel. "Right?" she repeated when Rachel didn't agree right away. "Boo!"

Rachel jumped up from the bed, nervously bouncing from foot to foot and fidgeting with her fingers. "Keep your voice down."

"No." Madison turned to face Rachel and scooted to the edge of the bed so she could plant her feet on the plush blue carpet. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Rachel began to pace the area between her bed and her dresser that she had had since she was five years old. "It's just that I've been doing some thinking."

"Wonderful," Madison said sarcastically.

Rachel stopped dead in front of her. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

Madison's back went ramrod straight at Rachel's tone. She was usually soft spoken and rarely raised her voice to Madison, often considered ‘the loud one.' "Go ahead."

"After the summer, there are two things that can happen." She held up a hand and counted off on her fingers. "One, Chris and I have a great summer in Europe for a couple of months, he continues on, I come home and go off to college with you and he and I embark on a difficult, but rewarding, long distance relationship. Wait ‘til I'm done," Rachel ordered when Madison opened her mouth to respond.

"Or, two, we make the best of the summer, both of us knowing that when I go off to San Francisco and he's in Europe-where the girls are much bolder, I might add-there isn't a chance in hell our relationship can survive and we...we break up." She stopped and stared, miserably, at her best friend. "Well?"

"I'm sorry, am I allowed to speak now?" Rachel planted her hands on her hips. Madison rose and placed her hands on Rachel's shoulders. "Okay, first of all, have you talked to Chris about any of this?" When Rachel shook her head no, Madison squeezed her shoulders. "You might want to do that before you even think of mentioning any of this to Rob and Ellen."

Rachel nodded again, silently. Madison dropped her hands to her sides.

"I can't tell you what'll happen, Boo. I totally think you should go on tour with the guys cause it's a once in a lifetime kind of thing."

Rachel sensed the hesitation in Madison's tone. "But...?"

Madison crossed her arms over her stomach and blew out a breath. "If you go, it will be a huge step in your relationship. I'm talking ‘make or break' here. Now, it may be that you two are meant to be and nothing can change it. Or-and this is the part where I worry-you'll go and realize why it is that everyone from your parents to JC to Angela are so concerned about you two being together. Touring is not an easy life, Boo. When they're on the road, I barely hear from JJ. That's why they don't have girlfriends. Except JC, but that's something entirely different from you and Chris."

"Different how?"

Madison shook her head. "Nothing, just something JJ and I noticed. But do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, I do," Rachel nodded as she lowered to the bed again. "Bug, let me ask you...if Justin asked you-"

"I'd go in a heartbeat," she answered quickly, plopping down on the bed as well. Rachel smiled. "But, again, it's different with me and JJ."

"How so?"

"We've known each other practically our whole lives, Boo. I told you: he's not Justin Timberlake: popstar. To me he's just plain old JJ, the curly-haired kid from down the street who used to put tadpoles in my juice box and lizards down my shirt." They both laughed. "Believe it or not, this transition from childhood pal to girlfriend hasn't been easy."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Bug." Rachel ran a hand up and down Madison's arm. "What's the deal?"

Madison shrugged a shoulder. "Sometimes he gets a little weird and I don't recognize him. It's like he's trying to live up to that image people have of him. And then he remembers he's with me and...its back to JJ and Mads. I don't know..." she waved off her words. "I love him and I know he loves me, but..."

"But what?" Rachel hurt for her friend. Madison had always been a pretty girl, made friends easily and had always had it easy when it came to the opposite sex. So it was odd and a little uncomfortable for her to hear the insecurity in her usually over-confident friend.

"But nothing. We'll see."

They fell into silence, both girls reflecting on their respective relationships, until Madison shook her head, as if shaking away the thoughts, and got to her feet.

"This is depressing. Come on, let's get outta here. I told Angie we'd go see the new Brad Pitt flick with her."

"Which one?"

"Uh, Meet Joe Black or something like that."

"Okay." Rachel got to her feet and padded to the closet to slip on a pair of flip-flops and pull out a jacket. She snatched up her purse, hanging off the back of her desk chair, then joined Madison at her open bedroom door. "Hey, don't mention any of this to Angie, okay?"

"Okay, but why?"

"Chris doesn't think she likes him very much."

Madison rolled her eyes. "Angie doesn't like anyone very much. She's a bitch."

"Maddy!"